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‘For the time being the vacuum cleaner lives at the end of the couch.’

‘I checked the pantry four times - that's where the coffee lives.’

‘I don't know where the plates live in their kitchen any more.’

Phrases

as I live and breathe

Used to express surprise at encountering someone or something.

‘good God, Jack Stone, as I live and breathe!’

‘Dawn Tinsley, as I live and breathe…’

‘Well, well, as I live and breathe, it's Nellie.’

‘‘Well, well,’ she said, ‘Malak Harr, as I live and breathe.’’

‘‘Well, as I live and breathe… if it ain't Hallie Lennox, ‘he said in an unmistakable Savannah drawl.’

live and breathe something

Devote a great deal of one's time to a particular subject or activity.

‘they live and breathe Italy and all things Italian’

‘If you want to work in the music industry, you have to live and breathe music.’

‘He lived and breathed mathematics and philosophy.’

‘You can see he lives and breathes the sport.’

‘He lives and breathes wine, tasting the products of his competitors and those from other countries.’

‘He lives and breathes pantomime and every year puts heart and soul into his productions.’

‘He admits to being a man who lives and breathes his job.’

‘I lived and breathed gymnastics throughout my childhood and only stopped training in my twenties.’

‘This is a woman who has lived and breathed politics since her teens.’

‘When you live and breathe your product, it's hard to realize that customers aren't as passionate about it as you are.’

‘When you're in this business you live and breathe it.’

live and let live

proverb You should tolerate the opinions and behaviour of others so that they will similarly tolerate your own.

‘Our father always taught us live and let live.’

‘We all have different interests, so live and let live!’

‘Monika's philosophy in life is to live and let live.’

‘Whatever happened to the concept of live and let live?’

‘Stating that she was devastated by the arson attack, she said that all she wanted to do was live and let live and she hoped that she could do that in a different part of the city.’

‘Perhaps this is asking too much and my view too utopian but I appeal to all involved to live and let live.’

‘In this neck of Los Angeles, people live and let live.’

‘Soon after the Great War, the majority of Americans turned away from concern about foreign affairs, adopting an attitude of live and let live.’

‘Isn't it time we all learned to live and let live?’

‘I hope that the Council will agree to live and let live.’

live dangerously

Do something risky, especially on a habitual basis.

‘she bit her lip, caught between natural caution and a desire to live dangerously’

‘We lived dangerously for about 20 minutes but we got through that and the game had levelled itself out,’ he recalled.’

‘Are you trying to be insulting or do you like living dangerously?’

‘This is one girl who likes living dangerously.’

‘Derby are still living dangerously, just four points ahead of third-bottom Manchester City, after losing 2-1 at home to Arsenal.’

‘And more and more Americans are living dangerously, moving to regions in this country highly vulnerable to natural disasters.’

‘These are some of the most beautiful places to live, but living here is living dangerously.’

‘City were living dangerously but as the clock ticked closer to 90 minutes they looked to have weathered the worst of the storm.’

‘After having lived dangerously for several years, I really did not want to involved in this type of case.’

‘He doesn't live dangerously, but puts others in terrible danger!’

‘Having braved the elements once I decided to live dangerously.’

live in hope

Be or remain optimistic about something.

‘we live in hope that his mission will succeed’

‘Up to that stage we had still lived in hope that were was some reason why she was still alive and hadn't been in touch.’

‘His mother still lives in hope of one day finding out what became of her 11-year-old son.’

‘However, one lives in hope that future years may actually witness some inspirational figures.’

‘‘We have been disappointed too many times to expect action being taken but you live in hope,’ he said.’

‘He lives in hope that he can find more people willing to walk a financial tightrope so that others can tread the boards.’

‘With the council telling me a year ago they had no money for widening the road or putting in sleeping policeman, I do not live in hope.’

‘I fear he will not bow to my pressure but I live in hope.’

‘We ask everyone to join with us in praying for Abigail and live in hope for the future.’

‘We have been living in hope since she went missing and we were praying this was not Leanne.’

‘I live in hope, but will no doubt end up in despair!’

live in the past

1Have old-fashioned or outdated ideas and attitudes.

‘we aren't here to cater to fringe elements who insist on living in the past’

‘Policy-makers will be accused of living in the past and using the wrong instruments to stimulate the Scottish economy.’

‘Those of us who argued from the start that the single currency was misconceived, and that membership would be a disaster, were dismissed by the Prime Minister as xenophobes who were living in the past.’

‘There was a BBC discussion about Time zones today - with the thread that unless we synchronised with the rest of Europe we were living in the past and that trade and the economy suffered.’

‘Mrs Barnie continued: ‘I understand the parish council has their own rules, but I think they are living in the past.’’

‘Those who wish to live in the past and apply outdated labels to all Northern Ireland fans are the real bigots.’

‘It would be wrong to assume that Christians are all fuddy-duddies living in the past who are completely against embracing the power of advertising.’

‘He says they are living in the past by what he calls ‘banging on’ about nominal interest rates 13 years ago.’

‘The Minister is still living in the past and as a result we are not gaining the jobs we should have.’

‘The Scottish Football Association are living in the past and they do not have any concept of equality.’

‘‘I say to those who want to live in the past - you stay in the past, we are moving on,’ said Mr Duncan Smith.’

1.1Dwell on or reminisce at length about past events.

‘why couldn't she stop living in the past and face the mess she was in now?’

‘Sometimes people waste their own time by living in the past.’

‘Yet the greatest obstacles to achieving are a lack of self belief, living in the past and a desire to be perfect.’

‘She needed to stop living in the past and stop wallowing in past sorrows.’

‘Many people live in the past, over and over again, and they never catch up with the present.’

‘Later in the book it mentions people's habit of living in the past all the time instead of concentrating on the present and the future.’

live it up

informal Spend one's time in an extremely enjoyable way, typically by being extravagant or engaging in an exciting social life.

‘they're living it up in Hawaii’

‘I'm not a great one for living it up till the early hours but I love breakfast meetings.’

‘They have lived it up and spent their way all throughout the eighties, never saving a dime.’

‘By rights, I should be a millionaire, living it up on some island somewhere.’

‘I feel like I should be living it up, having an exciting life.’

‘But she denied her kids had been abandoned as she lived it up on boozy nights in Turkish bars and clubs with friends.’

‘She survives on £50 a week state hand-outs while he lives it up in style after winning £1.5 million on the Lottery.’

‘They and the whole class they represent will spend the rest of the summer living it up at a whirl of social events.’

‘I thought ‘young people today’ spent all their dosh on mobile phones, gadgets and living it up.’

‘They spent this week living it up in Cape Town instead of acclimatising to altitude.’

‘Most eighteen-year-olds I knew were in college, partying, and living it up.’